Hate is the Tool of Small Minds
by pandorabox82
Summary: As Julian and Garak are taking a stroll along the promenade, someone tries to kill Garak. Will Julian's skills as a doctor be enough to save the person he loves?


Julian felt panic crawling up his esophagus to lodge in his throat, cutting off his air as he looked down at his friend. They had just been taking a walk around the station, talking like they had in the old days, when he had heard a sound behind them, something that caught his attention moment before he saw an older Bajoran rush up to them, knife in hand. Since Garak wasn't wearing anything more protective than one of his favored, crazy colored, shirts, the knife slid right into his side. It took Julian a fraction of a second longer to reach out and wrap his hand around the Bajoran's hand, trying desperately to keep him from pulling out the knife, knowing that it would only make matters worse.

"Why?" he asked as the nameless man shot him a look of pure venom before roughly pinching the skin between Julian's thumb and forefinger, causing him to cry and out pull his hand back. It was enough to allow the Bajoran to roughly yank the knife out of the wound and step away from them, still glaring.

"If you have to ask, you'll never make it here on this station. Go back to your precious Federation, Bashir," the Bajoran spat out before turning and running away, blending in with the crowd of people that had gathered to gawk at them.

"I need some help here!" Julian shouted as he pressed his hand to the wound in Garak's side, trying to staunch the flow of blood as he looked around for a friendly face in the crowd. Garak had been such a large part of the station just a few years ago, so he didn't understand why no one was coming to their aide now. Yes, he was a Cardassian, yes, he had been on the wrong side of history, but that didn't mean that they were beyond helping him out. "Anyone?!"

"I'm here, Julian."

He looked up into the concerned eyes of Kira, and gave her an unsteady smile as he gestured towards Garak's other side with his head. "We need to get him on his feet and to the infirmary as quickly as possible. I have no idea what damage the blade did. And if it had a poisoned tip, then I'm even further behind the curve."

His mind was flying a million miles a minute as he thought through all the possible outcomes, using his heightened senses as an Augment to find the one way that he could save Garak's life. There were so few avenues that might lead to the best outcome, and he gasped when he looked down to see Garak's blood dripping even faster from the wound, leaving a small trail behind them on the Promenade as they made their way to Sickbay.

One of his nurses met him at the door, and he watched as she took over from Kira, helping hum guide Garak over to a biobed. "Find the person who did this to him, Nerys. Please!"

He knew that he must sound desperate to the woman, that he was revealing the depths of his feelings for the Cardassian, but in that moment he didn't care. He only cared about making certain that he could heal Garak's wound and nurse him back to health. Kira gave him a sharp nod before turning on her heel and briskly leaving the room. "Doctor Bashir, his pulse is starting to weaken. We need to do something quickly!"

"I know," he replied absently as he picked up his tricorder and began to look at his vital signs. He had been right to assume that the blade had been poisoned, and it was an exotic one at that, one which would take all his best training as a doctor to fix. The blade had also torn through some major blood vessels, and were placed in such a way that he would have to manually operate on them to repair the wounds. "All right, I need to change into a suit and then take him into surgery."

"Are you sure that's wise, Doctor? You might be too close to the situation to be an effective doctor in this situation. I can page Doctor T'Val, she might have a cooler head for this."

"There isn't time to page her, we have to get started now!" he shouted, watching his nurse shrink back a little before nodding hesitantly and helping him get ready for the procedure. Julian knew that the woman was right, that he shouldn't operate on someone so close, but he didn't want to allow anyone else to touch Garak. No one else had his reflexes, his skills, and he knew that he was abusing his augmented status, but if ever there was a time to do that, it was now.

Somehow, he managed to get changed and into the operating room in less than two minutes, and then he was staring down at Garak's unconscious body, wishing that he had noticed something was wrong before he had been stabbed. That would have been the preferred outcome in this whole mess. As his hands steadily worked to repair the damage the knife had wrought, Julian kept up a running commentary in his head of all the things he would say to Garak once the man was awake once more. The first thing would be to tell him just how deeply he cared. They had been dancing around their feelings for far too long to not finally say something to each other about it. This was the second time Garak had nearly died while with him, and Julian took that as a sign from the Prophets that there should be a reckoning of their affairs.

Finally, his inner monologue still running, Julian sutured the wound closed before administering a hypospray of antibiotics. "It will probably be a few hours before the antidote to the poison works through his system, Doctor Bashir. I would use the time to rest."

He looked up into his nurse's face, giving her a wry smile. "Do you really think I could rest at a time like this?"

She shrugged before reaching out to squeeze his elbow softly. "I know, but as your favourite nurse, I still have to try and get you to see the light. You won't be any good to him if you're exhausted and make a stupid mistake. And before you tell me that because of who you are, you can't do something like that, let me remind you about the numerous times you injured yourself playing with Chief O'Brien?"

He let out a nervous laugh as he nodded. "I suppose that you do have a point there." Letting out a deep breath, Julian turned to face her. "I suppose that I'll rest in my office until he wakes up. As long as you promise me that you will watch over him until that happens. It's not like I don't trust the others, but…"

"I've seen into the heart of the matter?" she teased gently, and he nodded. "You always need someone like that to watch your back, Doctor Bashir." She squeezed his elbow once more before gently pushing him in the direction of his office. Taking the hint, Julian stumbled over to it, calling for the computer to dim the lights as he made his way to the sofa that was in there, sprawling out on it as he struggled to keep control of his breathing. Now that the part that required his attention was over, Julian could commit the full of his brain to thinking, again and again, about the ways that he had failed to protect the one person he cared for most in this universe.

His thoughts chased him down into a troubled sleep, and he tossed and turned as he dreamt about losing Garak, about him walking away from him, about everything that could possibly go wrong doing just that. He woke with a start when he felt a hand close around his shoulder, shaking him gently. "What is it?" he said, knowing that he had spoken a little too loudly from the wince on Tabitha's face. "Sorry, I kept having bad dreams, and it's still affecting me."

"I understand, Doctor Bashir. You wanted to know when Mister Garak started coming around, and it looks like he's about to wake up."

He nodded as he sat up, rubbing his hand over his face as he tried to clear the lingering fear and confusion from his mind. "How are his vital signs?" Julian asked as he followed Tabitha into the recovery room where he had left Garak a few hours ago.

"They're strong, which is a good sign. Doctor Bashir, I am confident that he will make a full recovery in time." She gave him a soft smile before leaving him to head the rest of the way in, as if she knew that he wanted to be alone with Garak. "I'll make certain that no one disturbs the two of you for a few hours, but when I come to do obs, I'll probably kick you out again. Because you should get something to eat. It wouldn't do for you to burn out when all you want to do is take care of him."

He nodded before giving her a small wave as he disappeared into Garak's room. The man was too still on the biobed, but he knew that was to be expected. Taking a deep breath, he went over to Garak's side and sank down onto the chair that he presumed Tabitha had set there for him. Hesitantly, Julian reached out, allowing his hand to hover over Garak's for a few seconds as he decided what he should do. It seemed like everyone on the station knew about his feelings for the Cardassian, but he wasn't certain if he could take that next step and show even a small modicum of affection for him. "Screw it," he whispered as he lowered his hand and picked up Garak's, closing his fingers around the too cold hand. "You need to wake up, Garak."

"My dear doctor, I am awake, I was just observing my surroundings." Garak turned his head to look at Julian, that sly smile on his lips. "Did they catch the man who did this to me?"

"I don't know, I haven't heard from Nerys yet. My attention was focused on repairing the damage, and then taking a brief nap so that I could be in good shape to look after you in your recovery and attend to any patients that come in."

"I'm not a child that needs constant supervision, Julian. Go about your duties, I'll be fine." He frowned a little at the words, but he did notice that Garak made no move to pull his hand away from the light clasp. "Unless you don't have anything better to do with your time?"

"Well, I was thinking that I could go get us something to drink and then read some of _The Never Ending Sacrifice_ to you. That was, you can correct me on my assumptions about Cardassian culture."

Garak chuckled a little before groaning, his face contorted into a rictus of pain that told Julian the man was putting on a mask of being fine. "Oh, perhaps it isn't wise to laugh right now. But I will take you up for a cup of raktajino." Julian nodded as he squeezed Garak's hand, giving him an open, tender, look. "Careful there, Julian. Someone might use that look to their advantage."

"Well, it's a good thing that there isn't anyone here but us, then, isn't it?" he said lowly as he leaned in and stared into Garak's eyes, the blue of them seeing to soak into his soul. "I almost lost you again, and so I'm going to be bold. Hate may be the tool used by small minds like the man who stabbed you, but love is the tool used by the survivors." Without saying another word, Julian closed the small distance between them and kissed Garak softly. As first kisses went, it wasn't earth shattering, but it was perfect. And if it was the only kiss he would ever share with Garak, he knew that he would remember it for the rest of his life. And not because of the way his brain worked due to the augmentation, but because it was the first time that he had actually taken a leap of faith and found a partner willing to dive into the unknown with him. Because Garak was hesitantly kissing him back, even as his hand tightened around Julian's, as if to keep him there in that moment. There was something so right about the embrace, and even though he knew that he had to pull away, to leave and come back, he knew that he would be returning to Garak, and that there might be a good, long, talk about their future when he did get back.


End file.
